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Show 472 MR. G. w. BUTLER O N T H E SUBDIVISION OF [NOV. 19, ventral portion of the Mammalian diaphragm. Doubtless the of the systematic research he is undertaking will be of the greatest interest, but it is only necessary for me here to refer to certain points in his nomenclature. Ravn calls the membrane passing between the lung and the liver-lobe of the right side (the pulmohepatic ligament of this paper) the ligamentum pulmonale accessorium. If we consider Lacerta alone, Ravn's term seems certainly, as a rule, the more applicable of the two ; for on the left side, as well as on the right, there is a ventral ligament, which, however, passes from the lung not to the liver but to the ventral body-wall. Ravn, however, mentions that in one specimen he traced a connexion between the lung and liver by means of this ligament; and, as he says, the usual condition in Lacerta is probably due to the tardier development of the left liver-lobe in the embryo. In the adult of many lizards (e. g. Sphenodon, Trachydosaurus, Uromastyx) the ligament on the left side is either not at all or but slightly developed and does not extend as far back as the anterior margin of the left liver-lobe. And on the other hand, in Arnphisbcena, where the left ligament is well developed, it connects the lung and liver. I think that the more definite term which I have employed is justified, especially when we consider the homologous but more symmetrical parts in birds, where it is the liver-lobes and not the lungs that are kept in place by these ligaments; moreover, the corresponding term pulmohepatic recesses serves well to describe those portions of the peritoneal cavity which are enclosed laterally by these ligaments. The membranes which I have called oblique ligaments of the liver, Ravn calls the ligamentum suspensorium hepatis accessorium (dextrum and sinistrum respectively). Ravn's term has the advantage of greater definiteness, but it is long. I may repeat that the development of these ligaments in different types of Lizard varies both as to size and number, for there may be more than one on a side. This seems to indicate that they have only a general morphological value. They are either (as Ravn calls them) accessory suspensory ligaments, or (as I have said above) ligaments complementary to the pulmohepatic attachments of the liver, in those forms where the latter are not, as they are in the bird, calculated to give sufficient support to that organ ventro-laterally. November 23, 1889. G. W . B. VIII. EXPLANATION OF PLATES XLVI.-XLIX. a.al, right allantoic artery. a.al', left allantoic artery. al, alimentary canal. als, allantois. ao, dorsal aorta. app, pulmonary aponeurosis. b.g, gall-bladder. c, heart. c', wall of heart. cl, clavicle. |